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June 21, 2004: SpaceShipOne Reaches Space


Valin

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Wired

 

2004: SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately financed craft to leave Earth’s atmosphere and reach the edge of space.

 

With self-taught civilian test pilot Mike Melvill at the controls, SpaceShipOne was released by its carrier craft and fired its hybrid rocket motors at an altitude of 47,000 feet over California’s Mojave Desert. As Melvill steered the ship outside the atmosphere, he spent about three minutes in weightlessness.

 

To help dramatize the moment, Melvill opened a bag of M&M’s and watched the candy float around the cockpit. “It was amazing,” he said later.

 

SpaceShipOne reached an altitude of 62 miles, putting it into suborbital space.

 

(Snip)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyBg8UfTdA8

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz8wlcUPz90

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